i dont think it would be an overreaction from an hr department to approach you if you used any slur in a casual way because it contribute to someone feeling uncomfortable or like they are in a hostile environment even though the civil rights movement was a few decades ago and slavery over a century ago the wounds have not healed over and nigger is still a very loaded word as a japanese person i would and have been in the past be deeply offended if someone referred to me as a jap even if they were not joking around i was not alive during wwii when that term was popular but it would not lessen the context or dehumanization intertwined with using it just to clarify do you think it is okay to use racial slurs as long as it is a joke